.....how do I stop this? When we are out it is not a problem, there are too many nice smells , but at puppy class or when I am trying to work with her at home, She is terrible. Jumping up and playing tug with it. I just drop the lead and ignore her but i really need to deal with this. Any tips?
You could try stream treating to start with as a distraction, then gradually reduce them as she gets into stride with the training.
We went through exactly the same thing. If we were walking I would stop and treat him as soon as he dropped the lead and we did lots and lots of practice in the garden, again treating as soon as he dropped the lead (with the drop command). It worked fairly quickly as I was very consistent and now if he picks it up in his mouth I just have to say drop and he does. Good luck!! Sam and Mole (6 months today!!)
Ignoring her is a great place to start. Is she on a collar? Do you have a harness? She may find it harder to get to it on a back fastening harness. What are you usually asking her to do when she starts playing? Is she being asked to wait? If so you may want to 'park' her by standing on the lead(it should be attached to a collar for this really). She'll learn that this means there's nothing happening for the foreseeable future. When she settles you reward that by interacting with her again or moving off. Then stop and park again. She'll gradually learn to switch off when nothings doing
She mainly does it if we are walking normally on a loose lead, if I am talking to her, asking her to heel etc, she doesn't but as soon as I stop she grabs it and all is lost. She has a tendency to try and take it in her mouth like a pony when I am putting it in sometimes too. I just had a session with her focusing on it and treating her at the appropriate moments. I guess I need to do a couple of session a day till for a few days for it to sink in? I a, just waiting for my happy puppy handbook to arrive!
why are you stopping, if it's to reward her you may need to be faster with your rewards so the food gets to her before she gets to the lead If you're stopping just to stop then you could park her immediately which means the lead is going to the floor from her collar and she will give up and settle (eventually) She's young I wouldn't worry too much
I don't if it will help but I recently read a tip in one book for heel walking:- keep your hand clamped to your leg beside the dog and have plenty of treats in your hand ready to reward to so you can maintain a nice walk without the stopping. It does advise that you may need to practice without your pup around
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I used this technique. Twice everyday for 4 days and he got it. Worked fabulously. I had to repeat it after a few weeks to reinforce (a new leash had got him biting it again).
